John Lennon, Yoko Ono – Double Fantasy / Stripped Down (1980/2014) [HDTracks FLAC 24bit/96kHz]

John Lennon, Yoko Ono – Double Fantasy / Stripped Down (1980/2014)
FLAC (tracks) 24-bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:31:21 | 1.99 GB
Studio Master, Official Digital Download | Artwork: Digital booklet
Genre: Art Rock, Pop Rock | Label: © Yoko Ono Lennon , Capitol Records | Source: HDtracks

Recorded: 7 August 1980 – 22 September 1980 at The Hit Factory, New York.
Remastered: ‘Stripped Down’: Re-Mixed at Avatar Studios, New York City. Re-Mix preparation at West End Sound NYC. A/D transfers done at Sony Battery NYC. Mastered at Sterling Sound NYC.
‘Original Album’: Recorded and remixed at Hit Factory, New York. Single remix at Record Plant, New York. Mastering at Sterling Sound, New York. Remastered at Sterling Sound, 2010.

Released on two CDs 2010 and now available in hi-res, this release of Double Fantasy contains the digitally remastered version of the 1980 Double Fantasy album plus a never before released ‘Stripped Down’ version produced by Yoko Ono and Jack Douglas. Includes ‘(Just Like) Starting Over’, ‘Woman’, ‘Watching The Wheels’, ‘Beautiful Boy (Darling Boy)’ and more.

Double Fantasy was recorded between July 7 and September 22, 1980 at The Hit Factory in New York City. The initial single “(Just Like) Starting Over” was released on October 20, 1980 and initially peaked at #7 in the US. After the death of John Lennon in December of 1980, the single reached #1 in both the US and UK. The album was released on November 17, 1980 on Geffenrecords. The initial critical response to Double Fantasywas mostly negative, although the album was later awarded Album of the Year in 1981, with the award being given to producer Jack Douglas and Yoko Ono.

This digital remaster of Double Fantasy was transferred from Protools 192 kHz (Prism AD8) into an analogue EMI TG12410 desk, into Sadie at 96kHz/24bit.

The one unreleased item among Apple/EMI’s exhaustive 2010 John Lennon reissue campaign was Double Fantasy Stripped Down, a revision of the original 1980 album supervised by Yoko Ono and producer Jack Douglas. The intent of this new mix is to give the recording a greater sense of intimacy, but Double Fantasy isn’t Let It Be: it doesn’t have a heavily bootlegged original early incarnation, it only exists in its final form; it’s not an album that was designed as a raw back-to-basics record, it was constructed as a slick studio affair. Stripped Down attempts to take only one coat of varnish off of Double Fantasy, stripping away reverb and backing vocals, dampening some of the brighter colors and adding some studio chatter to give the illusion of eavesdropping on the studio, trimming the length of some tracks slightly, lengthening a couple other imperceptibly, boosting John’s voice to the front of the mix. Apart from “(Just Like) Starting Over,” where the removal of the doo wop backing vocals undercuts the loving oldies homage of the song, the changes are so subtle that they’re felt more than heard, cumulatively not affecting the impact of the album all that much. Ultimately, Stripped Down sounds like a rough mix waiting for all the polish that made Double Fantasy feel like a full, complete album. -Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Tracklist:

Disc#1
Stripped Down (2010 Remix)
1 (Just Like) Starting Over 4:24
2 Kiss Kiss Kiss 2:44
3 Cleanup Time 3:56
4 Give Me Something 1:31
5 I’m Losing You 4:25
6 I’m Moving On 2:28
7 Beautiful Boy (Darling Boy) 3:50
8 Watching The Wheels 3:32
9 Yes, I’m Your Angel 2:53
10 Woman 3:45
11 Beautiful Boys 3:15
12 Dear Yoko 3:03
13 Every Man Has A Woman Who Loves Him 4:45
14 Hard Times Are Over 3:37

Disc#2
Original Album (2010 Remaster)
1 (Just Like) Starting Over 4:24
2 Kiss Kiss Kiss 2:44
3 Cleanup Time 3:56
4 Give Me Something 1:31
5 I’m Losing You 4:25
6 I’m Moving On 2:28
7 Beautiful Boy (Darling Boy) 3:50
8 Watching The Wheels 3:32
9 Yes, I’m Your Angel 2:53
10 Woman 3:45
11 Beautiful Boys 3:15
12 Dear Yoko 3:03
13 Every Man Has A Woman Who Loves Him 4:45
14 Hard Times Are Over 3:37

Personnel:
John Lennon – lead, harmony and background vocals; rhythm and acoustic guitars; piano and keyboards; arranger and producer
Yoko Ono – lead and background vocals; arranger and producer
Jack Douglas – arranger and producer
Earl Slick – lead guitar
Hugh McCracken – lead guitar
Tony Levin – bass
George Small – keyboards
Andy Newmark – drums
Arthur Jenkins – percussion
Ed Walsh – Oberheim synthesizer
Robert Greenidge – steel drum on “Beautiful Boy”
Matthew Cunningham – hammer dulcimer on “Watching the Wheels”
Randy Stein – English concertina
Howard Johnson -horns
Grant Hungerford – horns
John Parran – horns
Seldon Powell – horns
George “Young” Opalisky – horns
Roger Rosenberg – horns
David Tofani – horns
Ronald Tooley – horns
Tony Davillo – horn arrangements and musical associate
Michelle Simpson, Cassandra Wooten, Cheryl Mason Jacks, Eric Troyer, Benny Cummings Singers, The Kings Temple Choir – background vocals
Toshihiro Hamaya – production assistant
Frederic Seaman – production assistant
Julie Last – assistant engineer
George Marino – original mastering and remastering
Lee DeCarlo – engineer
Jon Smith – assistant engineer
Anthony Davilio – musical associate
James A. Ball – assistant engineer